Bill Clinton: “Impeachment Hearings Would Have Begun” If a Democrat Were President

Former President Bill Clinton said Sunday that he believes the impeachment process would be underway if a Democratic president were being investigated rather than President Donald Trump.

“I think if the roles were reversed – now, this is me just talking, but it’s based on my experience – if it were a Democratic president, and these facts were present, most people I know in Washington believe impeachment hearings would have begun already,” Clinton said in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.

As of last month, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has resulted in 75 criminal charges, 22 indictments, five guilty pleas and one sentencing. Trump has continuously decried the probe as a “witch hunt” and has most recently claimed the appointment of the special counsel is “unconstitutional.”

The appointment of the Special Counsel is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Despite that, we play the game because I, unlike the Democrats, have done nothing wrong!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018

As for the media’s reporting on the Russia probe, which the president has allegedly worked to discredit, Clinton said, “I think they have tried by and large to cover this investigation based on the facts.” He also said that, had a Democrat been president in this situation, “Most people I know believe that the press would have been that hard, or harder. But these are serious issues.”

Clinton also took issue with Trump’s frequent name-calling, such as giving Texas Sen. Ted Cruz the nickname “Lyin’ Ted” in his 2016 campaign, repeatedly calling North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un “little rocket man” and – to this day– referring to Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton, as “Crooked Hillary.”

“I don’t like all this,” Clinton said. “I couldn’t be elected anything now because I just don’t like embarrassing people. My mother would have whipped me for five days in a row when I was a little boy if I spent all my time badmouthing people like this.

After an investigation by independent counsel Ken Starr, the Republican-controlled House voted in 1998 to impeach Clinton for perjury and obstruction to justice in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The Senate acquitted him, preventing his removal from office.    

The full interview, which was to promote Clinton and James Patterson’s political thriller, The President is Missing, is below.